"Hiccup?"
Astrid stopped at the edge of the forest to catch her breath. She could see the village.
But Hiccup wasn't there.
He must have stopped running a while back, Astrid thought.
She glanced around in the forest and ran back in to search for him.
"Hiccup? You there?" She shouted.
Leaves crunched under her boots as she ran back the way she came. The wind whistled past her ears as she sprinted back to where she saw Hiccup last.
"Hiccup!?"
Come on Hiccup, she wondered. Where are you?
Her eyes scanned the thick forest. Nothing.
"Damn."
Astrid cupped her hands to her mouth and called for Stormfly.
A couple minutes went by and then Astrid heard Stormfly squawk and wing beats. The blue and yellow Deadly Nadder landed next to Astrid.
"Hey, Stormfly. Come on, we have to find Hiccup."
Astrid jumped onto Stormfly's back and sat herself in the saddle. She gave Stormfly a light nudge with her foot, signaling her to take off.
The pair flew into the air, accelerating towards the village.
Hiccup was tired.
Scratch that. He was exhausted.
The recent events had kept him up all night, preventing him from enjoying the feeling of sleep.
However long he had been awake, he didn't care. He needed to find a way out and soon.
Hiccup glanced up to the cell door when it opened to reveal Savage.
"Dagur wants to talk with you, boy. Get up."
Savage dragged Hiccup off the ground and threw him out the cell door. He kept a firm grip on Hiccup's tunic as he led him to the war room.
Savage knocked on the door twice, then entered.
Hiccup looked around the room. Axes and swords were in some crates in the far corner of the room as well as a couple hung up on the wall.
Dragon skulls and bones were also hung up high on the walls as if they were some prized possessions. Hiccup cringed at the sight of the dragon remains.
He directed his sight towards a table in the middle of the room. Maps and sheets of parchment were spread out, a small dagger embedded in the middle of it.
Hiccup looked up past the table and saw Dagur dressed in his usual battle armour, sharpening his sword with a whetstone.
"Ah, Hiccup!" Dagur sheathed the sword on his back and put down the stone.
"You can leave us now, Savage."
Savage bowed his head and left the room, closing the iron door behind him, leaving Hiccup alone with Dagur.
"What do you want?" Hiccup asked.
"What I want? Well, I want a lot of things. I want Berk to be under my rule."
"Impossible," Hiccup responded.
Dagur scowled. "I want that Night Fury."
"Out of the question," he replied, starting to get bored.
"I want you to pay for what you did."
"I don't have any gold on me right now, but if you let me go back to Berk, I can get some and we can work out the payment from there?" Hiccup sarcastically asked.
Dagur growled. "Don't test my patience, Hiccup. You are going to suffer for what you did."
"My friends will be looking for me."
"Don't count on that. We made sure to not leave any evidence behind."
"They have tracker dragons. Once they find out I'm here, they'll crush you and your army."
Hiccup knew that was a lie but wanted to try and intimidate Dagur. It didn't work.
"Ha! You and I both know that my men can take down your little dragon-riding friends easily. Without you, your Night Fury can't fly. Four dragons and five riders against an armada with dragon-trapping weapons? That'll go down a treat." Dagur smirked.
Hiccup shifted uneasily. Dagur was right. They wouldn't stand a chance.
"You seem to know quite a bit about us," Hiccup chose his words carefully.
"Not enough. I need to know Berk's weaknesses. You're here to tell me that. Whether that's the easy way, or the hard way."
Hiccup scoffed. "Then I choose the hard way, because there is no way I'm going to tell you Berk's secrets."
Dagur chuckled evilly. "Good. I was hoping you were going to choose the hard way Hiccup. You just keep making my dreams come true, don't you? Now you're going to pay for what you did."
Dagur signaled Savage to come back in. The door opened.
"You're not going to win this Dagur."
"Oh, but Hiccup. I've already won."
Savage grabbed Hiccup's tunic and dragged him back out to his cell in the labyrinth of caves.
The cell door clanged behind him and locked.
"We'll see Dagur. We'll see."
It was late afternoon by the time Astrid and the gang had given up on trying to find Hiccup. They had combed through the entire forest. Astrid had gone to his house, the forge, the Great Hall, even the Berk Dragon Training Academy. Hiccup was nowhere to be found.
Astrid felt bad for Toothless. The Night Fury was a mess. He frantically searched all of Berk, worried sick for his rider. What made it worse is that he could not fly to search from the air.
The gang were on their way up to the Great Hall, where Stoick was. Initially, they weren't going to tell their chief as Astrid thought he probably just got lost and didn't want to make a big deal out of it. However, after a few hours, Astrid knew they had to tell him and the village.
The teens rushed into the Great Hall, led by Astrid.
"Chief?" Astrid called.
Stoick was sitting at a table with a few other Vikings. He directed his attention away from Gobber and the others and turned to the gang.
"Astrid. Have you seen Hiccup anywhere? I haven't seen him all day."
Astrid tried to steady her breathing. "About that. Hiccup is missing."
Stoick gave a confused look. "What do you mean 'missing'?"
Astrid sighed. "We were at the cove this morning and our dragons had flown off, so we decided to race back. I swear Hiccup was right behind me but by the time I got to the village, he was gone."
"I'm sure he's just off exploring with Toothless."
"Toothless is right outside, Chief. Hiccup isn't with him," Fishlegs said.
Stoick froze. Hiccup is never without his dragon.
"When did you last see him?"
"A few hours ago. We searched the entire island. We can't find him," Astrid responded.
Stoick stood up. "Are you sure?" His voice wavered.
"Yes! I even had Stormfly to track the scent of Hiccup's boot prints, but it just led us to the middle of the forest. It's like he just vanished!"
"Okay, calm down," Gobber said. "The lad is resourceful. If he's in trouble, then he'll get out of it."
Stoick turned to the other Vikings. "I want every available Viking searching for Hiccup. Village, forest, sea and sky. Spread the word."
The group nodded and exited the Great Hall.
Stoick turned back to the gang. "As for you all. Get some rest. Your dragons too. If we can't find my son by tonight, then we're going to need you all tomorrow."
They nodded. Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut walked away and out of the hall.
"You're sure he's going to be okay?" Astrid asked.
Stoick put a comforting arm on Astrid's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll find him."
Astrid nodded slowly. She followed the gang out of the Great Hall and closed the vast doors behind her.
Stoick sighed heavily and collapsed down onto a chair. "He's missing Gobber," he whispered.
"As you said. We'll find 'im."
"Do you think something could have happened to him?"
"What are you thinking?"
Stoick paused. "They said they searched the entire island, Gobber. What if Hiccup's not on Berk?"
Gobber drank the rest of his mead out of his tankard prosthetic. "You're saying he was kidnapped? By whom? A wild dragon? Alvin? Dagur?"
"I don't want that to be the case, but I'm afraid it's likely."
There was a moment of silence between the two. Gobber got up and offered Stoick his real hand. "Let's go find your son."
Hiccup received another punch to the gut and doubled over.
Dagur had given the Berserker soldiers free reign over Hiccup's treatment. Most of them were just verbal insults. A few punches and kicks here and there. All allowed if he wasn't severely injured or killed.
Hiccup had discovered that a fractured rib, bloodied nose and bruises galore was not in fact a 'severe injury', according to the Berserkers.
"Piece of dragon-riding scum," the Berserker said distastefully and exited the cell.
Hiccup clenched his stomach in pain. He had been suffering from this all day with little food and just enough water to keep him alive.
I am not going to survive this much longer, Hiccup thought. Dagur is a madman. He won't stop until all of Berk is dead. I need to keep him here on Berserker Island so that everyone else is safe. Find a way to stop all of this...
"If you encounter a problem, you have three options. Leave the problem alone and do nothing about it. Fix the problem. Or eliminate the problem where it stands."
The words of his father echoed in Hiccup's mind. He heard those words not long ago when the dragons on Berk were still acting wild and he was trying to fix it.
If Dagur is the problem, Hiccup wondered, then there are three options. Leave it. Fix it. Or eliminate it.
Well, I can't do nothing. Dagur would destroy Berk. My family and friends. Everyone would die.
Could I fix Dagur? Maybe... No, of course not! He's insane! The guy has dreamt about killing me and conquering Berk. I can't fix him.
But the only one left would be... eliminate him?
Hiccup thought over this. Eliminate Dagur? Kill him? I can't kill someone! I'm Hiccup! I don't want to kill anyone! I couldn't even kill Toothless...
A cold numbing feeling spread over Hiccup's body. A wave of fatigue hit him hard.
I need to stay alive. For my family. For Toothless. For my friends.
For my people.
I will defend them. No matter the cost.
Survive by any means necessary.
The cold breeze blew Astrid's hair back as she stood on a cliff, facing the ocean.
The sun was rising on the horizon. An enchanting light that made the ocean waters sparkle.
Even on such a beautiful day, the only thing Astrid felt was sorrow.
The search parties had returned not long ago, just before dawn.
No one had found Hiccup.
Every tree, bush, river, cliff, waterfall and sea stack were searched. Nothing. Not even a clue to his whereabouts.
Astrid didn't sleep that night.
The whole day, the gang had searched Dragon Island and other local islands. Nothing but wild dragons and boars. They returned to Berk, tired, depressed, and without hope.
When Toothless didn't see smell his rider when the others returned, he moaned in misery, and wandered away through the gathering crowd.
Stoick was losing hope. His only son had vanished without a trace. And there was nothing he could do.
"He'll come back to us eventually, right Astrid?" Snotlout asked dejectedly.
The others looked to Astrid expectedly. Since Hiccup was gone, they looked to Astrid as their leader. And leaders need to be strong.
"Yeah. He'll come back. We'll bring him home."
The group nodded. They separated and returned to their respective homes.
Astrid walked through the door and was greeted by her parents, but quickly ran up to her room.
She shut the door behind her and slumped down against it.
He is gone, Astrid thought. He is really gone.
Everything crashed down on Astrid at once and she broke.
She let her tears fall silently. Her knees up to her chest and face buried in her arms, unaware Hiccup was in the same position miles away.
She sniffed and shivered, tears pouring freely down her face.
"Please come back Hiccup. We need you. I can't live without you," Astrid whispered.
Sorry it took a while to get this chapter out, but it's done! I hope you enjoy this one! Chapter 3 - Torture should be out soon. By the third chapter, the story will be rated mature as it will contain very graphic violence. Remember to vote, share and comment! More readers = more to read! - AirbornDragonRider